Hey friends! We're so excited to see what this new year will hold for Hope especially with how much the Lord blessed us and grew us in 2021. With that being said, we wanted to share and celebrate all of the cool things God's done through this company, through campaigns, and through you joining us as a team this past year.

HOPE'S EXPANSION: We have been blessed with extra space and many more team members this year that have allowed the company to grow far beyond what we thought was possible for 2021. We seriously have THE DREAM TEAM! Everyone has worked diligently to make Hope exactly what we wanted, a place that's pleasing to the Lord and gives hope to others.

CAMPAIGN'S EXPANSION:Not one, but TWO new campaign's are now up and running along with Operation Underground Railroad. Through your support, we've been able to extend ourselves and get involved in more ministries who are doing amazing things. In total we've been able to give back $36,000 this year! Praise the Lord!

OPERATION UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: Within the past year, a total of 893 traffickers and predators were put to a stop by Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). Out of the kids who were rescued this year, 191 of them were able to be adopted. These adoptions were funded by Children Need Families (a project of OUR). Another huge win is that one of the teams found and seized half a million files of child sexual abuse material from one of Thailand's best-known modeling agencies. I repeat, that's HALF A MILLION! That's a real miracle right there. OUR assisted in 171 repatriations for women survivors from 15 different countries who were trafficked abroad by false employment agencies. Also 7 survivors hopped on board to join the O.U.R. team. SO many victories to get to be excited about!

There's also been a ton of growth within the team, the OPS team added 4 more regional operation directors to expand rescue efforts across the world including both the Middle East and Europe. The Aftercare team also has been growing in their development expanding into 30 countries now. Some of the care that is given out to each survivor is medical care, therapy, court advocacy, vocational training, and college scholarships.

They've gotten creative and helped assist an outreach in Kenya where their Aftercare team helped serve food and humanitarian aid to 50 children, women, and men who had the possibility of being at high-risk of being exploited and sexually abused. The team was accompanied by authorities in Kenya to help identify those being trafficked or exploited. 

SAMARITAN'S PURSE (OPERATION HEAL OUR PATRIOTS) : When I was looking for information to share on Operation Heal Our Patriots (OHOP),  I started to dive deep into some of their personal stories within the past year and they were too great not to share. The following is one of my favorite testimonies that I found of how OHOP healed and restored not only a couple's marriage, but also their faith in God.

Former Army Staff Sergeant Mike Paulk and his wife Dana were struggling heavily in their marriage desperately trying to reach each other again with the love and friendship that they used to share. They came across OHOP separately while scrolling through social media one day. After Dana applied, she went to her husband and told him about the program only to find out that he had submitted an application too on the same day she did. They took it as an obvious sign that they should try it, because why not? Dana decided to commit to staying with Mike until after they finished out the program in Alaska.

Dana said, "I was ready to give up. I was done," she viewed the week in Alaska as a lost resort to help their marriage. If it didn't work she was out. Then their trip that was supposed to be in August, weeks before their 13th anniversary, had to be rescheduled to October for reasons out of their control. The delay ended up being a blessing from God. Within the few extra weeks, both Mike and Dana realized that they wanted to make their marriage work, but they still didn't know how it could happen. They felt as if their scars ran too deep, they both knew that their marriage was in trouble. 

In 2017 their family hit one wall after another making it very challenging for their marriage. Their son had gotten attacked brutally by a dog and was almost killed. After that, Dana gave birth to her son three months early which resulted in having to stay three months in the NICU to care for her baby. To make things even harder, Mike almost died after suffering from a brain injury during an army function. Life was throwing them all kinds of curveballs.   

Upon their arrival at the remote lodge in Alaska, they started fighting for their marriage. At OHOP they didn't just find help and tools to navigate through their relationship. They both found a renewed faith In Jesus Christ. "When you find your faith again, it frees up all that stress and anxiety that you hold onto and you see life and your situation clearer than you ever have," Mike said. This insight reminded them that not only do they want to be together, but that the God of the universe is for their marriage and is willing to fight for it. Dana said, "for us, I can say this saved our marriage. One hundred percent- it saved our marriage. I love this man. He's my best friend, and I got to remember that and find that again. It saved our marriage. I will be forever grateful because I could have walked away."

God used OHOP in Mike and Dana's life to save and restore their marriage, and give them a fresh new faith in Jesus. There in Alaska, the couple decided to recommit their marriage to each other and to the Lord.

LIVE ACTION NEWS: Founder of Live Action News, Lila Rose, published her book 'Fighting For Life" this past year. She says transformation begins with heartbreak and seeing the injustices around you, then you allow that suffering to light a fire within you. In the book, she shares raw and intimate stories about her own journey and pro-life activism that will inspire others to become a champion for their own cause. Lila shares, "I wrote this guidebook and manual that I wish I had when I was just starting out as a young girl with little experience but a huge calling. I share some of my biggest struggles and hardest moments, as well as the breakthroughs and victories along the way. I hope they will be useful to you in your own calling and mission."

Lisa Bevere says, "Lila's story is a challenge for us all to take a stand, speak truth, and persist in the fight for life."  Christine Caine, author, activist, and founder of Propel Women, says, "This book is so powerful! Fighting for Life invites us to live out our calling, to take risks, have courage, persevere, and be led by conviction. It contains great practical steps for readers no matter what their cause may be. Lila has taken on the greatest battle of our generation and mobilized multitudes to fight for the protection of the most marginalized, those human beings still in their mother's wombs. I am thankful for Lila's strength and valor."

This book is getting into the hands of people everywhere and PRAISE THE LORD FOR IT! Hopefully it will encourage pro-lifers to become more bold in standing up and spreading truth and change the minds of people who've bought lies as their truth.

CLOSING: 2021 has been the best year yet! We've thoroughly enjoyed seeing the testimonial videos that you guys have sent in. Getting to hear what Hope is for you has encouraged us to be even more mission minded. We have loved getting to partner with these different campaigns, but also, we've just loved getting to partner with you too. Praying is one of my favorite parts about working alongside Hope, being able to drop whatever I'm doing to take a few minutes to pray with a customer has honestly been the sweetest blessing. My hope for 2022 is to see you come back and hear that God carried out that prayer request into completion. 2022 we are ready for you!